Lazio and Fenerbahce are the latest clubs to be linked with a move for Joel Campbell.
Having been in Russia on international duty with Costa Rica, the attacking midfielder has a couple more weeks on holiday before he joins up with the rest of the squad for pre-season training on 23 July.
It looks likely that a decision on his future will be made after an initial meeting with Unai Emery. Like Lucas Perez, it appears the new coach wants to run the rule over his squad options before sanctioning sales and loan deals.
Campbell has one year left on his Arsenal contract and, having failed to make a real impact at the Emirates, will likely be allowed to leave after a seven-year spell that has included six loan moves. Last season the 26-year-old played for Real Betis – his second spell at the club – but struggled with knee and ankle injuries.
In addition to the interest from Lazio and Fenerbahce, the player was also recently linked with Galatasaray.
He played 114 minutes across two games at the World Cup, most notably helping his country to a 2-2 draw with Switzerland that included a corner assist and winning a late penalty.
lazio would be perfect for him. dont know why more clubs are not in for him. but i wish good luck for his future. for what its worth i really thought he played well for arsenal whenever he was given a chance
Probably because he has been pretty rubbish at his recent loan spells and hasn’t even managed to earn a starting place for Costa Rica.
but he must regret signing for us, didn’t do his career any good moving all the time. Hopefully he finds a team that matches his ability and he can stay with them for a while.
Get out while you can Joel!!! haha.
Another way to look at it is he was given a chance to play in multiple different European clubs while earning a respectable salary. He has a wife and kid and seems to be a big family guy. Maybe he didn’t reach the potential we thought he might but he still made a decent career, better than a lot of people playing in the lower leagues. So yes it didn’t work out for him at Arsenal, I thought he was decent when given the chance, definitely performed better than Ox and Theo at the time yet they were always preferred… Read more »
He really never was worse than Iwobi is right now. I’m not just having a dig at Iwobi, but Joel should’ve gotten a fair chance back then. He’s a hard worker and a powerful dribbler, much like Welbz. Would definitely be useful in serie A.
Wish him all the best.
He’s better than Iwobi, just doesn’t meet the home grown quota requirements, as thats the only thing thats keeping Iwobi anywhere near our squad.
The silver lining, if there is one, to this truncated transfer window, is that we can still sell to clubs outside England after the PL starts. Looking at the players we have on our books, not everyone is going to fit in the official list of 25. Expect to see Campbell, and a few others leave.
I really hope we sell him. No more loans. He needs to settle down at one club and improve with the team.
A sad day for Dick Law.
I really hope we’re as ruthless in our selling as we have been in our buying this summer. Campbell, Ospina, Akpom, Asano, Jenkinson, Bramell, Martinez, Adelaide, Perez can all be let go without a need for any replacements, I doubt we’d get much for that lot? But would be a decent amount off our wage bill. Then we’ll probably need to let go of one or two established players on top if we want to change it around or upgrade. The problem we’ve got is unless we can sell inside the PL? Then unlikely anyone would match what they’re earning… Read more »
Adelaide does not deserve to be on that list.
Not only is he young, but for the short time he was gone, he was our most successful loanee playing at a high level in Ligue 1.
He has 1yr left on his deal and apparently wants out…
His path to the first team is blocked and there’s no value in loaning him.
I’m not saying I want to see him leave, it’s just the logical/pragmatic solution
His route to the first team isn’t really blocked. He might struggle to get games ahead of Ozil and Mkhi, but other than that the other attacking mids / wingers in front of him are Iwobi, Welbeck, Lucas and Nelson. That’s 2 quality senior players, 3 mediocre senior players (probably 1 will be sold/loaned), and a talented 18 year old who has proven nothing yet competing for 2 or 3 positions. It’s about as open as you can expect to find at a big club. We also have a new manager with fresh eyes who will throw the pecking order… Read more »
With one year left on his deal, do we ask him to stay and fight against his wishes to play regular football? Or do we sell? If he won’t sign a new deal? And we can’t give him the regular minutes he wants?
Surely we’re just delaying the inevitable? Whilst keeping an unhappy player in the dressing room…..
Tbh I haven’t seen anywhere saying he wants out, could you provide a link? And it wouldn’t really make a whole lot of sense right now if he does. Iwobi and Welbeck are both in the last chance saloon for their Arsenal careers and both have gone through long periods of dreadful form, Emery/Sven won’t need much excuse to drop them/move them on. On the other hand Jeff returns from his loan spell a more complete player – we now know he can cope physically and mentally with senior competitive football at a decent level – something that was in… Read more »
“against his wishes” any proof of that? Have we even offered a new deal?
Based on this logic, might as well sell off Ramsey, Nelson and Welbeck, who all fit that status too.
Blocked by who? He’s an AM that can play on the wings. He’s a dribbler in a squad currently lacking in wide dribbling players since we lost the likes of Sanchez, Ox and Gnabry. Who are his competition blocking him? Perez? He’s 30 and also with 1 year left. Welbeck? He’s not really a winger, is at his peak (which isn’t that high), isn’t a dribbler, 27 and also has a year left on his contract? Nelson? I like, but he has less experience, younger, oh and also has a year left on his contract (and has been offered yet… Read more »
think perez will get another chance under emery and adeleid as well. but still dont understand why did we carry all these player for years if we were not even planning to use them. its didint do any good for anyone not the players nor the club. all of them are putting huge hole hole in our wage budget
Add Mustafi to that list
Honestly I like Campbell, always have. As mentioned above I thought he had really good games for us. Also think hes type of player Emery could use, he’s energetic, quick, tricky, pretty strong. Be good pressing player. Don’t know if say for example Gelson Martins is that much better of an addition tbh.
I.d keep him around. U want to play a pressing game? He works his arse off and has some quality on the ball
Not good enough. Have better options out wide. Did better than expected in his lil cameo that season.
If it came down to it, I’d rather we kept Joel over Lucas. He’s younger, more versatile, doesn’t sulk and get his agent to mouth off to the press or force through deals to his hometown (club despite excellent opportunities being put out in front him at other clubs).